'GLADES LAND DEAL MOVES AHEAD

Water managers on Thursday approved their role in a federally orchestrated deal to buy 50,000 acres of farmland for Everglades restoration.

Although not the official buyer of the land, owned by the Talisman Sugar Co., the South Florida Water Management District eventually will hold title to the property, which is largely in western Palm Beach County.

The federal government on Monday signed a $133 million contract to buy the property from the St. Joe Paper Co.

The bulk of the Talisman property will be used to store water that would feed the Everglades. Other land may be traded by the government to other sugar growers in exchange for farm fields useful to the restoration.

The Nature Conservancy is buying the land but will be reimbursed from a pool of federal tax money earmarked for the Everglades.